Tapytangua Guazu

Hola! I am so sorry that I have not posted in such a long time. I have just finished my first three weeks in my site, Tapytangua Guazu. It is named after a small river that goes through the edge of the community. It is just what I had hoped for--a rural agricultural community in which I'll be able to work with the school and with local farmer's organizations (hopefully!). It is about 7-9k from the nearest town of Acahay. There is an old bus that runs in the morning and drops people off within 30 min. walking distance from my house.

The community is nestled between hills, and is fairly flat with a lot of grasslands. The people here practice small-scale agriculture, growing mainly corn, cotton, and mandioca (their staple food), and raise livestock. I've been helping my host mom bring home the cows in the evenings.I live with the family of Don Simon Moriningo, an 80-year old man who still wakes up in the morning to work in his fields and even rides a horse now and again. I also live with two of his adult daughters, one of their spouses, and for now their 8 year-old son. During the school year he lives with his aunt in the town of Paraguari. We have electricity but no running water. However, we are lucky to have a deep well as there is a drought right now and a lot of people are without close water sources. The biggest project in the community is to get potable water, and it looks like I might be helping with that in the future.

I am a first time volunteer in my site which means that part of my job throughout the next two years will be to make strong connections with community contacts and establish what Peace Corps is and does. All the new volunteers though spend the first few months just walking around, meeting people, and drinking lots of terere. Sometimes it gets a little slow or it seems like I'm not working, but spending time with people and working on language skills is so necessary. In the houses I visit I am trying to do a small community survey/census to better understand people's needs and interests for future projects. Most people are very open and friendly and love to have someone over for a visita.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season! I will send some hot Paraguayan air your way!